This invention relates generally to tools, and more particularly, it pertains to a device for handling record discs containing audio, data, video and the like recorded thereon without placing the fingers on the grooved area of the discs.
The prior art discloses devices which grip the edges of record discs as used in commercial mechanical audio record changers.
As background information, it is the unanimous opinion of experts in the high fidelity sound field that the grooved area of a record disc should never be touched by human hands. Such touching with hands deposits perspiration and grease upon and into the grooves. Dust and abrasive particles attach themselves firmly to the deposited grease. Grease-held materials cannot be removed from the grooves as normally occurs due to the action of the stylus and the gentle brushing of the several varieties of commercially available brushes.
Instead, these grease-held particles remain in the grooves and abrade the extremely delicate texture of the grooves which produce the sound. Consequently, when the record is repeatedly played, the quality of the sound reproduced is severely degraded, particularly with respect to high frequencies.
Additionally, the grease-held particles create immediate distortion through the generation of pops, crackles and hisses in the reproduced sound. Also, touching the recorded surface increases the incidence of surface scratches.
The prior recommended methods of handling a disc consist of placing the fingers on the label area (center of disc) and the thumb on outer edge of the disc, or, if possible handling by pressure at the outer edges only. The handling problem becomes most acute when inserting the disc in the paperboard jacket storage container or removing it therefrom.
This insertion or removal operation is probably the most awkward and uncomfortable gesture performed by a person. The removal operation consists of fanning open the jacket container with one hand, inserting the other hand into the side of the jacket to place the fingers on the label area and then withdrawing the record by friction between the fingers and the label. As the record is withdrawn, it is dangerously balanced on the fingertips and is an imminent candidate for dropping.
Substantially the same problem exists in the case of video disc recordings, particularly those in which the video and audio information are recorded by continuous grooves having appropriate modulation impressed thereon.
In my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,589, I disclosed a record handling tool in which a pair of guide arms contacted the edge of a record disc which thereupon disposed a pin or spindle generally aligned with the spindle hole at the center of the record disc. A mechanical arrangement shortened the distance between the pin and the positioning arms so that the record was gripped therebetween for removal from, and insertion into, a record jacket. Although this device is successful in handling record discs without damage, some people have been concerned that the protruding pin or spindle may contact the grooved area of the record disc while inserting the holding arm between the record disc and the jacket and thereby scratch the grooved area of the disc.